Army of Darkness
Synopsis
Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
After being transported through a time portal to the Middle Ages, Ash (Campbell) finds himself trying to get back to the future by going on a quest to find the Book of the Dead. In true Ash fashion, he accidentally unleashes an army of...you guessed it, evil dead. This final film from the cult classic Evil Dead trilogy is more comedic and less violent than it’s predecessors.
Cast
Popular reviews
More-
This film concludes a horror franchise I consider to be one of the greatest ever conceived.
It is the trilogy's Santa Claus, adding joy, merriment and laughter.
And chainsaws.
And Deadites.
And time travel.
And cloning.
And magic.
Ok, so it's nothing like Santa at all, but you get my point.
Oh, and I'm so proud! I managed to do this without one quote!
Groovy!
....bollocks.... -
If Evil Dead 2 was Raimi's boom-stick, blasting you in the face with a devastating(ly funny) satire of genre extremity, then Army of Darkness is his chainsaw, ripping you apart with a chain made of every genre trope imaginable, from horror to sci-fi to adventure and beyond.
It's not as subtle and surprising as ED2, and it's definitely messier, but what it lacks in polish, it makes up for in pure entertainment. Instead of lampooning what makes bad movies good, Raimi jumps right over to the other side and emulates them instead. And just like ED2, that earnestness and clear admiration for them makes Army of Darkness so endearing and fun despite itself.
I had a hard time figuring out…
-
Part of the Hail to the King, Bruce Campbell All-Nighter
How could one not possibly love this film? I've seen it once and I already love it. Unless you're a die hard, original Evil Dead fan, in which case, you probably hate this already. However. though, this completely blew me away with how hilarious and just epic it was. So I'm going to keep this review short.
If you like Bruce Campbell blowing up shit and chopping it up with chainsaws, watch Army of Darkness. If you like huge explosions with skeletons flying in the air, watch Army of Darkness. If you like hilarity and hammy acting, watch Army of Darkness. If you breath air like me, watch Army of Darkness
Bottom line is, literally, if you haven't guessed, watch Army of Darkness!
-
Sheila: But what of all those sweet words you spoke in private?
Ash: Oh that's just what we call pillow talk, baby, that's all.Ash Williams, you smooth mofo, you...
-
"Buckle up Bonehead. 'Cause you're goin' for a ride!"
-
"Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun."
-Ashley 'Ash' J. Williams (Bruce Campbell)Funnily enough, the third outing from budget movie maestro’s Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell and the Evil Dead franchise, suffers somewhat because it tries to be different. Instead of using the dependable ‘cabin in the woods’ setup in the vein of the first two films, Evil Dead 3 (or Army of Darkness), translates the loopy Deadite madness to the Middle Ages, or 1300AD to be precise.
Our lovable rouge Ashley ‘Ash’ J. Williams is warped to a medieval castle beset by monstrous forces of eeeviiilll. He is revealed as a prophecised saviour who must embark on a quest for the Necronomicon (sounds familiar) which has the…
Recent reviews
More-
Yesterday I watched all three Evil Dead films in a row, two for the first time. In order to save your time, I have made a review of the trilogy, rather than going after each one at a time.
Never has a trilogy transformed so thoroughly by the end. It starts, in The Evil Dead, as a traditional horror film. Five teenagers go to a cabin and are attacked by some kind of supernatural killer. One, however, in a bit of a twist, lives and becomes the hero of the series, and, in the opposite of the usual horror movie trope, becomes the one continous character for the trilogy.
The second film, creatively titled Evil Dead II, follows more in…
-
Pure ridiculousness. If your'e looking for something that includes chainsaws, shotguns, a badass, and the army of the dead this is the movie for you.
-
Army of Darkness picks up where Evil Dead 2 left off, and only furthers and comedic-horror aspect of that film's tone.
Our hero Ash must recover the Book of the Dead and fight off the Army of the Dead after he botches the recovery mission.
If you're an Evil Dead fan you've already seen it, but even if you've never seen Evil Dead you should check out Army of Darkness sometimes.
-
An enjoyable background horror comedy. I didn't like it as much as I liked Tucker & Dale vs. Evil but it's funny in the right places and creepy in the right places. It feels like The Three Stooges wrote and directed this and I mean that as a compliment. The scene in the windmill is hilarious.
It does feel really dated especially with the special effects but I'll give it a pass as this just adds to it's charm. It's not quite as funny as it thinks it is and it could maybe have done with a bit more blood 'n' guts.
Bruce Campbell's the man. Groovy.
-
Part of the Hail to the King, Bruce Campbell All-Nighter
How could one not possibly love this film? I've seen it once and I already love it. Unless you're a die hard, original Evil Dead fan, in which case, you probably hate this already. However. though, this completely blew me away with how hilarious and just epic it was. So I'm going to keep this review short.
If you like Bruce Campbell blowing up shit and chopping it up with chainsaws, watch Army of Darkness. If you like huge explosions with skeletons flying in the air, watch Army of Darkness. If you like hilarity and hammy acting, watch Army of Darkness. If you breath air like me, watch Army of Darkness
Bottom line is, literally, if you haven't guessed, watch Army of Darkness!
-
Part of Hail to the King, a Bruce Campbell all-nighter.
Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow. This completely blew me away with it's awesome. I don't want to spoil any of the awesome and badass moments in this film, so this review will be brief, but Bruce Campbell is even more awesome, the one-liners are better, the action is better, and it had me jumping up and down in my chair at the ending. Just see this movie, it's one of my absolute favourites.
"Hail to the king, baby."
-
The concluding film of the Evil Dead trilogy sees our protagonist Ash transported back to the year 1300, and hailed as "The Promised One", the hero destined to defeat the Deadites.
The film's genre and style takes another turn from the previous installments and focuses heavily upon physical humour and bizarre occurrences, potentially even more than the second in the series. This, coupled with the insanely macho transformation of Ash, sees the film creating hilarious and thrilling moments almost constantly.
Bruce Campbell does, as always, an excellent job as Ash. He utters every line with cynicism and badassery. His virile performance and exact comedic timing, vocally and physically, causes the comedy to be delivered perfectly; the infantile slapstick juxtaposing his…
-
Bruce Campbell stars as a one-line machine and master of physical comedy, in a briskly paced adventure-comedy-horror mashup.
It is a great idea to see modern technology supplanted in the Middle Ages. The story is relatively simple, with an extremely short second act, and possesses impeccable timing and great set pieces. Campbell is also such a screen presence at times that no secondary screen characters are required.
The Reverence: A crash zoom montage beats out a contorted face, a geyser of blood, the three books, the cutaway dialogue of the extras, numerous visual gags and puns involving bones, a chopper car and a bunch of evil little Campbell’s.
-
And so concludes a trilogy of a man who has had a very busy week.
I'm not quite as enamored with the conclusion as I was with the first two installments, though I did enjoy it very much and suspect it will make a great party film.
Raimi has a cheesy, fun, flamboyant style of film making that you never see anymore. Watching these films, it's clear he and Campbell had a similar sense of humor, for I've never seen an actor commit 110% to such a ridiculous role, a role that could be career ruining in the hands of a lesser director.
This is one of the most interesting trilogies I've ever seen in terms…